• chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    That’s British TV. They make it work by averaging like 3 hours a year of programming to focus on quality. A single season of an American-style 3-wall sitcom has a longer runtime than most British sitcoms have in their entire run.

    • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I don’t feel like the origin makes the argument that classic style sitcoms aren’t past their prime any less relevant. But okay; The Conners is a US show that was recorded in front of a live audience and got 7 seasons that ended just this past April.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      averaging like 3 hours a year of programming to focus on quality

      I’d like to know more about this. Is there a name for this technique? A Wikipedia or blog page about the phenomenon? Some example shows that follow that rule?

      • nickiwest@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Most British comedies that I’ve seen have 6 or 7 episodes per series.

        Some of my favorites that follow the rule …

        • The Black Adder
        • Red Dwarf
        • Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
        • The Mighty Boosh (9 episodes in series 1)
        • A Bit of Fry and Laurie
        • Peep Show
        • That Mitchell and Webb Look
        • The Cleaner
        • Upstart Crow
        • Black Books
        • The IT Crowd
        • Fawlty Towers

        Even Monty Python’s Flying Circus only had 13 episodes per series. The Carol Burnett Show, which ran in the US at the same time, had 24 to 30 episodes each season.